Oats?

[deerewife]

I'm just starting to get serious about prepping and have been reading alot about storing whole grains. And I have to say it's a bit overwhelming. ??? So here goes-

Is there a difference between the rolled oats my local farm store sells as horse feed and the stuff they package for the supermarket as old-fashioned rolled oats? The horse feed bag lists oats as the only ingredient an says that they are cleaned and rolled.

[Shamrock1121]

I suspect the grade, care and cleaning of the oats is different for food-grade than (animal) feed-grade. *

Food-grade require that the grain be tested for quality so the company can deliever a consistant product. *Quaker oats have a very consistant product, while off-brands may cost less, are less consistant. *So you'll end up paying more for the higher-quality and consistant product. *

You'll find attributes including weed seeds, green material and contamination by genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and allowance for rodant droppings in (animal) feed-grade.

If you've ever cleaned grain right out of the combine, you'll find every bug, beetle, and cricket (whole and parts) and other "foreign" matter included in the grain. *Food-grade is not only graded by size of the grain, and other qualities, but it's also triple-cleaned before processing.

Point #2: *I store oats instead of oatmeal, and flake my own oats and use it whole, coarse-chopped (similar to steel-cut), and milled into oat flour. *Oats have a longer shelf-life than oatmeal. *If all you store is oatmeal, you're planning for food for a short period of time, not long-term.

For "serious" food storage, we need to get to the least processed possible. *Worst case scenario, if you have the whole seed/grain/bean, you can plant it to make more. *Try that with bleached flour, corn meal, oatmeal, or a can of refried beans.

-Karen

[Klapton]

Specifically, if you decide to get a roller/flaker, you want to buy "oat groats". Run them through a roller / flaker, and you have "rolled oats". As Karen pointed out, whole oat groats will keep MUCH longer than rolled oats. And you could even plant them if you wanted!

[Route6]

Is there a difference between the rolled oats my local farm store sells as horse feed and the stuff they package for the supermarket as old-fashioned rolled oats?

Yes!

Old-fashioned rolled oats have been graded, cleaned and, most importantly, dehulled; prior to rolling!

You can convert oat grouts (dehulled oats) or hulless (naked) oats to 'rolled' oats very easily without the use of an expensive roller by hammering the oats with a wooden hammer on a cutting board placed in a cake pan.


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